Chen Ling scared.
Honestly, who wouldn't be after a crazy, foot tall, little tiger whips out a sword tail and starts trying to murder your sister with the fury worse than that of a lonely old man whose window was broken by a stray baseball from some rascally kids? That isn't something you just get used to.
She didn't know what was going on. What she remembered was her bringing home a wounded tiger cub from the creek. She nursed it's wounds, and when it woke up the following night, was hostile like any scared animal in a strange place.
She knew this wasn't strange, so she was nice to it in hopes of being friends and thought that they would become best friends in due time. She had thought it was fate when she found this special tiger near that creek, not long after officially becoming a cultivator. In which case one could form a beast contract, which for her, translated into 'friend for life'.
The tiger responded to her kindness, and let her pet and cuddle it, so she thought it had accepted her. She wanted to form a contract with it as soon as possible.
This is where everything went wrong.
The tiger obviously did not like the looks of the contract when she showed it the book, this was especially clear when it stabbed the book with it's intimidating sword tail. But this wasn't too bad, as after a show of sincerity, he cooperated kindly, pricking his own forehead before acting indifferent, like a tsundere, she thought.
Then the contract ceremony started, and the tiger immediately grew aggressive. It seemed extremely angry at the ceremony, and his tail lashed about in all directions. For some reason, she was not harmed, but she felt an unstoppable pressure originating from the tiger. Almost forcibly making the contract fail.
She was aware of the consequences of a contract failed in this manner, and wanted to stop the process. Unfortunately, she didn't have the slightest idea how to. She obviously had not studied as much as she should've.
In the nick of time her sister came in and helped her stop the process, before having a conversation of souls with the tiger, which she could not listen to.
But eventually the tiger got aggressive again and attacked her sister, and they were both sent into the hall. She didn't dare follow closely due to how dangerous the tiger was.
Then she saw the her sister gradually lose ground, and she could not wait any longer. She ran out to the tiger.
She had no abilities to speak of, as she had only just broken into the first realm, refining body, where you can sense worldly essence, the power of life and nature that exists everywhere, and revolve it in your body until it's saturated, and prepared for a cultivation method, and them break through to refining qi realm.
Despite this, she was able to approach the tiger unharmed.
Her plan? It was to hug the tiger to make it feel better, as she was young and thought everyone had some good in them. She bought the tiger was just scared, and that's why it had acted out.
Strangely, her plan kind of worked, and the tiger's movement stopped, her eyes were clenched tightly, but she could no longer hear the sounds of splitting wind, wall, and furniture.
As soon as she was relieved, she felt her neck pricked by the tiger's fangs, but no further. She thought it was a love bite or something but then she felt her soul quivering.
She could vaguely feel the tiger's soul doing the same. Their souls felt in sync like two rowers on a boat. She vaguely felt the something moving in her body, but she did not care. She constantly asked him to stop, to calm down, to relax.
The tiger's eyes were wide and his pupils dilated in shock. It appeared to have no idea what was happening and was trembling, as if trying to move. Only now could did she notice she couldn't move her own body, but it didn't bother her and instead held the tiger tighter, whispering into his ear more, telling him to stop, and that she knew he was good in the inside, hoping for him to relax. Soon the tiger stopped trembling, she didn't know if it was accepting her embrace or resigning to fate, but it made her happy nonetheless.
Soon her body fell limp, as did the tiger, and when she opened her eyes she found that both of them were collapsed on the ground, and the tiger was still wide eyed, but now just looking confused.
"Ling'er! Are you okay?!" Her sister suddenly cried out and before she knew it, she was held in her sister's arms.
"I'm okay big sis. But what happened?" She knew something had happened in her body with the tiger, but she was unsure as to what.
"I don't know, you came up and hugged the tiger, he bit you, you both glowed, and then collapsed!" Her sister looked confused, even though she had watched the process physically, her skill in the Seven Soul Notes was not high enough to tell what was going on in their souls.
"Eh?" She was confused as well, as since even her sister didn't know what happened, she was at a loss as well.
"What just happened?! Why can't I move?! What in the depths did you do to me?!" Chen Ling suddenly heard a shout echoing in her head and a roar in her ears. She then found that the little tiger on the floor was roaring incessantly, but his body could not move. But this was not what surprised her.
"You can talk to my soul? Like sister can?" She asked curiously.
""What?!"" Both her sister and he tiger replied at the same time, answering her question with another.